


The Asana Naming Convention

by ifreet



Category: Life, Middleman, Standoff
Genre: Community: cranky_zen, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-25
Updated: 2010-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-14 08:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifreet/pseuds/ifreet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt by sansets: Life/Middleman, Dani/Wendy, any medium - shared hobbies. (Don't ask me WHY I find the idea of them taking a cooking class or practicing tae bo together so charming, I just DO.) Or Life/Standoff, Dani&Matt, fic - any sort of story where they are wacky roommates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Asana Naming Convention

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sansets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansets/gifts).



> Thanks are due to sisterofdream for betaing above and beyond -- and for providing the perfect title when I came up blank.

Wendy hated dealing with aliens. The Boss gave her an earful anytime she slipped up and mentioned that in front of him, the same speech about the wide diversity present in Earth's alien community and how even though their purview included all threats intra-, extra-, and juxtaterrestrial, a Middleman must remain mindful that not every intra-, extra-, or juxtaterrestrial humanoid, creature, or being of pure energy represented a threat. She had the speech memorized and even agreed that he had a point --

Every single time it was aliens, she put her foot down wrong and then it was boggling accusations of deathly insult and the dodging of energy weapons and the countermanding of arcane self-destruct sequences and finally the exchanging of the traditional teacakes of peace and the whole situation took three times as long to resolve as it could have. Every. Single. Time.

Anyway, it wasn't like he had much high ground given the whole aversion to magic thing. Every Middleman had his or her weak spot, and hers didn't have her cozying up to any demons, however reformed.

Still, the latest narrowly averted invasion plan -- such as it was -- had put her several hours behind and her meeting with Dani was clear across town. Wendy yanked off her tie as she ran up the stairs to change and was still stuffing her bag as she hopped back in her smart car. She glanced at the dashboard clock. Given L.A.'s notoriously bad traffic, she'd never make it -- but then, there were a few benefits to her job, including access to the underground system.

She'd get an annoyed message from the Boss later about misappropriating resources for personal business, of course. Semi-retirement may have allowed him to see the end of "Ride Lonesome," but nothing could keep him from fussing.

Wendy returned to street level and was circling for anything resembling a legal parking space near Dani's building when a large car roared up and double-parked directly in front of the door. An irritated looking Dani climbed out and slammed the door even as the driver leaned over towards her. After a moment of staring -- or rather, glaring -- at the driver, Dani pointed emphatically down the street, and he drove off.

A space opened up during the delay, and Wendy slid into it. She snagged her yoga bag and got out.

Dani was waiting for her on the sidewalk, and her step quickened automatically.

"Hey," she greeted. "That the mysterious partner?"

"If mysterious means annoying and impulsive, yes." Dani's hand squeezed Wendy's elbow, the closest she came to indulging in any form of PDA, due in part to natural reserve and in part to her fierce protection of her public persona -- pure tough cop. Wendy had had enough dealings with various members of the law enforcement community to understand -- some guys always saw the 'girl' first, no matter what the badge she was holding said. (Not that they talked about it directly; they didn't talk about their jobs. Dani knew she didn't really work for either the Department of Natural Resources or MI-5 and had limited patience for prevarications. After a conversation filled with far too many awkward omissions about exactly whom Wendy did work for, they agreed to avoid the topic entirely.) Wendy smiled at her, and Dani smiled back before dropping her arm with a sigh. "And thanks to him, we're going to be late for yoga. And I still need to get my stuff."

"This is all just an elaborate ruse to get me into your apartment, isn't it?" Wendy gave her a wink and a nudge.

"Yes, that's exactly what this is," Dani replied dryly. "Come on. If we hurry, we might still catch the end of warm-up."

  
Dani unlocked the door, then paused with her hand on the doorknob. She looked at Wendy, opened and shut her mouth as though she were going to say something and changed her mind. Then she shrugged -- apologetically, it looked like -- and let them in. Wendy raised her eyebrows and followed her.

"Reese, that you?"

"Not actually here, Flannery," she called back, barely raising her voice. "Be right back, Wendy." She crossed the small living room and a hallway barely worth the name to disappear through a door to the right. Wendy stood by the front door, looking around curiously. The room was neat and clean and very neutral, and for the most part, it didn't seem Dani's style at all, though the print near the window was of a painting Dani had admired at the MOCA a couple weeks back.

"Does that mean you didn't pick up any milk?"

"Not here," Dani caroled in reply.

A dark haired man in jeans and a tee walked around the corner from the kitchen, waving a plastic jug towards the closed door. "You drank the last of it."

"Actually, I used it on my cereal," Dani said, as she came back into the room, still pulling her shirt down with the hand not holding her mat. It was the loose one that always slipped down -- or should that be up? -- her torso during the slightest inversion, even downward facing dog. Wendy liked that shirt.

Flannery made a throwing motion with one hand, dismissing the difference. "Whatever. You used up the milk, any chance you'd consider replacing it?"

"Yeah, I'm going to -- when I come home tonight." He pulled a face at her that somehow conveyed that she was both home now and obviously milkless, and she gave it right back then waved toward Wendy. "Wendy, this is my roommate, Matt. Matt, Wendy."

He nodded at Wendy. "Friend?"

"Girlfriend," Dani clarified, and Wendy smiled, because the word was still new and wonderful.

He suddenly looked concerned. Dani noticed and stiffened -- and ok, Dani had apparently dropped a bombshell on the guy. But all he asked was, "You moving out?"

"Huh? No." Dani darted a startled look at Wendy.

"Good," he said. "Don't forget the milk. Nice to meet you, Wendy."

"And you," she replied, though she could be forgiven if it came out a bit like a question. Dani quickly herded her out the door. In the elevator, Wendy glanced over and asked, "I take it you--"

"No. But I wasn't going to sneak around in my own apartment. I'm glad it turned out so..."

"Anti-climatic?"

"Yeah."

"Me, too," she said simply -- and stole a kiss before the doors opened.


End file.
